AUSTRALIAN football great Matt McKay has voiced his worries about the upcoming A-Leagues grand finals set to take place in Sydney.<\/p>\n
Despite a large amount of backlash from all involved in the game, the APL has re-affirmed its agreement with the NSW Government to move the next three A-League\u2019s Grand Finals to Sydney.<\/p>\n
As a player, McKay was a part of one of the greatest grand finals in A-League history where the Roar scored two goals in the final three minutes of extra-time before taking out the title on penalties.<\/p>\n
Speaking to SEN, McKay explained why the A-Leagues shouldn\u2019t follow the AFL or NRL\u2019s traditions with having a host city for the decider.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to process their thought behind it, obviously I completely understand, but we are not rugby league, they have it (the grand final) Sydney because they have ten plus clubs there,\u201d McKay said on SEN 1170 Afternoons.<\/p>\n
\u201cMelbourne you have the AFL final there because you have the majority of the clubs there, we are a genuine national game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can just see it being a disaster if we have a Melbourne Victory-Melbourne City final, or a Brisbane-Melbourne [final] in Sydney, it\u2019s just going to be a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2022 A-League Men\u2019s grand final saw just under 25,000 fans watch Melbourne City take on state-rivals Western United, falling 6000 people short of filling out AAMI Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it comes down to dollars and I guess the government has really put out to try and do something, and they\u2019re trying to create something,\u201d McKay said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing I can give the A-Leagues credit for is they\u2019re trying hard to do new things, but they didn\u2019t think this one through well enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can get into the process behind it, they\u2019ve obviously done it for a reason and they\u2019re trying to get that out there by saying they\u2019re building a culture and tradition, but I feel there could be other ways to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be transparent with how these things are run.\u201d<\/p>\n